Schizophrenia: Types, Symptoms, Medications, Treatment

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Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, and disabling brain disease. People with schizophrenia often suffer terrifying symptoms such as hearing internal voices not heard by others, or believing that other people are reading their minds, controlling their thoughts, or plotting to harm them. Their symptoms can be grouped into three categories: positive symptoms, negative symptoms, psychomotor symptoms. Positive symptoms of schizophrenia include delusions, illusions, disorganized thinking and speech, heightened perceptions and hallucinations, and inappropriate affect. Delusions are ideas that they believe frequently but have no basis in fact. These patients may believe that they, or a member of the family or someone close to them, is the focus of this persecution. Sometimes the delusions experienced by people with schizophrenia are quite bizarre; for instance, believing that a neighbor is controlling their behavior with magnetic waves that people on television are directing special messages to them; or that their thoughts are being broadcast aloud to others. Hallucinations and illusions are disturbances of perceptions that are common in people suffering from schizophrenia. Although hallucinations can occur in any sensory form - sound, sight, touch, taste, smell - hearing voices is most common. Voices may describe the patient's activities, carry on a

Conversations, warn of dangers, or even give orders to the person. Illusions on the other hand occur when a sensory stimulus is present nut is incorrectly interpreted by the individual. Disorganized thinking and speech makes it incapable to have logical, rational thinking, and often-present...

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...the problem.

· Be forgetful. Say something like; "I forgot the milk. Can you get it please'?"

· Encourage the person to take responsibility.

· Teach the person how to deal with stress in a socially acceptable manner.

· Remember that family members are often the only friends the person may have. So try to be a friend. (http://www.mentalhealth.com/book/p40-sc01.html), Schizophrenia: A Handbook For Families.

With time, the person suffering will begin to feel more confident and secure about

Being able to do things. Some health care professionals have noted that it is around the period that new problems can emerge, particularly if the family isn't prepared to grow with the person. The process of becoming independent in long but standing by the side of a person with schizophrenia and giving them love and support seems to be the only "true" cure.

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